Swedish fashion retailer H&M’s new brand, Arket, has launched its online store and first physical store on Regent Street in London last Friday.

According to the fast-fashion giant, the new brand is a modern-day market, offering essential products for men, women, children and the home. The brand’s online store caters to 18 European markets.

The Regent Street store occupies two storeys of a former department-store corner building, with womenswear and the children’s collection located on the second floor, and menswear, homeware and an Arket cafe on the ground floor. The vegetarian cafe menu is based on the New Nordic Food Manifesto and blends traditional Scandinavian flavours with modern and global influences.

“We are incredibly happy to introduce Arket and its collections, and welcome our first customers into our stores on Regent Street and online at arket.com,” said Lars Axelsson, managing director.

“Our team has been working towards this day for over two years, and we are excited to finally share the results.”

The new brand has accumulated over 28,000 followers on Instagram and 5000 on Facebook, ahead of the launch.

Ulrika Bernhardtz, creative director, recently said they picked the name Arket,which means ‘sheet of paper’ in Swedish, because it relates to both their origin in the Nordic tradition of functional, long-lasting design and symbolises the blank sheet, “the sense of optimism and possibility they felt when creating the new brand.”

The launch of the London store will be followed by the opening of Arket in Copenhagen on September 1, then by stores in Brussels, Munich and in London’s Covent Garden during the coming weeks and months.

The Swedish fashion retailer will launch its first hometown store in Sweden at Biblioteksgatan 9, in the heart of Stockholm’s shopping district Bibliotekstan and will open in the spring of 2018.

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